If there’s one thing today’s New Yorker profile of Jony Ive hammers home, it’s how important the Apple Watch is to Apple’s design guru. The 16,000-word story reveals how Ive pushed the Apple Watch as a project, shortly after Steve Jobs’ death, when Apple was under pressure to come up with its next insanely great idea.
Here’s all the ways
- As a long-time watch collector, Ive worked heavily with best friend Marc Newson on the project, who will be named on patents for the Apple Watch.
- Behind the scenes, the project developed against a backdrop of Ive solidifying his key position at Apple as he took over design work on iOS while pushing out rivals.
- Ive is even re-imagining the Apple Store for the express view of selling his luxurious smartwatches, working with retail boss Angela Ahrendts to turn Apple’s retail stores into the kind of V.I.P. place you would buy a high-end wristwatch. (He was prompted to do so after overhearing someone say, “I’m not going to buy a watch if I can’t stand on carpet.”)
- Ive took a whole year before he settled on the straps for the Apple Watch. He tested them by wearing them outside the design studio with other watches.
- A circular design was never considered because “a circle doesn’t make any sense” for a list-based interface. The watch’s final form factor resembles one of Newson’s previous designs, plus a 1904 Cartier Santos.
Ultimately, what shines through from the New Yorker story is just how much of a quintessentially Jony Ive device the Apple Watch will be — more so than any previous Apple product. Given that you’re talking about the world’s most important designer on top of his game, with unlimited resources and no filter, it makes me more excited than ever to pick up an Apple Watch this April.
How about you?
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
9 responses to “Apple Watch is totally a Jony Ive production”
What I find ironic is that if you look at any photo’s of Ive wearing a wristwatch that they have all been round displays. Apparently as a long time watch collector and designer he knows what looks good on a wrist and square isn’t it.
Round watches are just effective for list based interfaces, it’s basic geometry.
Please explain your last sentence.
It’s not just geometry, it is basic common sense. A square area can fit perfectly inside a circle, believe it or not some people have a hard time grasping that concept. They think because it is round they are somehow losing something.
The Apple watch is not really square but a rectangle and it is measured from top to bottom of the watch itself including the bezel at 42mm. Though Apple has not released any actual display size specs, given that size the largest Apple watch screen should fit inside a Moto 360’s 40mm round diameter display. Therefore any list based interfaces would not lose anything in the translation.
It ‘could’ but it ‘would not’ be the best choice.
Can you explain?
So you want the watch to be bigger than it needs to be? Are you aware of how ugly the watch would be with a square display with a circular body?
Designers with “no filter” are not necessarily a good thing. What’s the chance that Ive needed Jobs as much as Jobs needed Ives?
Your right, Steve Job’s genius came from the ability to say no. Apple of late could use a bit more of that vision.
About your question “How about you?” I never wore a wristwatch, I will not begin with Apple’s one, sorry. I’m happy with my Powerbook retina 15″ and my iPhone 5.